When individuals travel from one location to another by automobile or other vehicle, there is often a need for additional cargo space that cannot be found inside the vehicle. A standard solution to this problem has been a car-top carrier that fits on the top of the vehicle and is capable of storing items of various sizes. While these carriers are effective at holding cargo, it is important that the carriers are secured tightly, otherwise the carrier could become loose and either damage the top portion of the vehicle or fall off the vehicle entirely. The carriers must therefore be tied down to the vehicle in some manner.
Some carriers are made of cloth or other pliable material, are collapsible when not in use, and are tied to the vehicle using buckles and straps. Certain carriers use bolts, brackets and the like; these carriers tend to be hard-shelled and, through use of various attachment hardware, are customized to fit to a particular vehicle model. A standard practice for tying down cloth carriers is to use a length of belting that is stitched to the car-top carrier and run through a railing on the top of the vehicle. The user then buckles the strap to itself and cinches it tight.
One end of the strap is stitched to the carrier at a single location while the opposite end is attached to the vehicle. The single stitched connection of the strap is under a tensile stress when the carrier is attached to the vehicle. If the stress is too severe, as may happen when wind attempts to shear the carrier off the vehicle or the contents shift, the strap may tearway from the carrier. As a result, the strap may no longer be able to secure the carrier to the vehicle. The strap extends from the carrier in one preferred direction, and varying this direction will cause the carrier wall to crease or wrinkle and will increase the stress on the stitching between the strap and the cloth carrier wall. Hence, tying a strap to the carrier in other than the preferred direction may also cause separation failure.
Therefore there is a need to provide an attachment device for the fastening strap that will ensure a secure connection between a cargo carrier and a portion of a moving vehicle. There is also a need to provide an attachment device which permits the strap to be attached to a range of different points on the vehicle in different directions from the carrier.